Adjudication
by Sixteen Vanilla Beans
Summary: Phoenix will not stop bothering Edgeworth, and Edgeworth decides it's best to show the man just much he doesn't need his help. Phoenix knows he's a broken man, and won't back off. Will he end up actually helping him, or just scar him in ways unimaginable? Undefined AU.


_I'm not even a Narumitsu shipper, what the heck am I doing writing this? Well, it was just an idea that refused to leave me alone and since the last fanfic I published was in January of 2015, I figured, why not? I sincerely apologize in advance if anyone is OOC, I tried my best but I just don't know… (Especially since I decided to write this in first person- Edgeworth nonetheless. Yikes.) Anyway, I hope you enjoy~_

* * *

When I first the man, the man known as Phoenix Wright, I felt almost immediately repulsed. His overeager smile, ridiculous hair style, and a sense of stubbornness that rivaled even Franziska's, did nothing but annoy me. I quickly came to the conclusion that he was not a person whom I'd like to spend more than the necessary amount of time with. Unfortunately, he became more and more annoying as time went on with his dull and idiotic jokes, overly trusting and naïve nature, and his utter lack of taking a hint that I wanted nothing further to do with him.

I learned some time later that he had in his head that I was lonely and needed some "help." Honestly, somebody needed to tell that man that his "help" was more of a nuisance than anything. But anyway, I decided to entertain one of the many offers he gave me over the months, with the intent of showing him just how much I didn't need his help. I was naïve to believe that such measures would be enough to keep him away.

The day we were to meet up was a snowy and chilly Friday evening in December. He told me he had a "surprise" and wanted me to wait under a specific lamppost for him. Honestly, who does that? Don't people usually meet up in coffee shops or something of the sort? Now I was standing awkwardly under a lamppost in Downtown LA, receiving strange stares from all the people bustling about doing Christmas shopping. What a way to spend my Friday.

I kept checking my watch and was in the middle of deciding whether or not this was worth it when the man himself came barreling down the street.

"You're late, Mr. Wright," I told him when he approached, ignoring just how out of breath he was.

"Eh? B-But, it hasn't even… been two minutes!" He protested, fervently checking his watch for the time.

I shrugged. "Late is late."

"Yeah, um, OK…" he said, straightening up. "Well, my tardiness will be worth it when you see where we're going; and why I was late."

"Really," I said, feigning as much disinterest as possible. Despite that, Wright just grinned and urged me to follow him.

We were quite some ways down the street when I spoke up. "So, if we're going this far… why did I have to wait at that lamppost? Wouldn't it have made more sense for us to meet at where we're going?

He looked at me as if he didn't understand the question, and I tried my best to suppress a sigh. Why did I agree to this again?

"Well…" he paused. It almost seemed as if he was mulling over his words. "Doing that would take away the air of mystery, right?"

I couldn't help but stare. Mystery…? Just what was this man thinking?

He must've noticed my reaction since he now began to mumble quickly, fumbling for an explanation. "Yeah, y'know, without that, it wouldn't really be… well, a… surprise?"

"…"

"And, um, that would be really boring so-"

"Mr. Wright."

"Y-Yes?"

"Do I seem like the type who cares much for the 'air of mystery?' Or surprises at all, for that matter?" I glanced at him, expecting to see him fumbling for a response once again, but instead he was staring down at the snow in thought.

"No," he admitted after a few seconds." But it's something different. It's the usual same-old, same-old that everyone else does."

"…You do realize that 'the usual' is 'the usual' for a reason, yes?"

"Of course I know that!" he nearly snapped. "Just… forgive me if I can't really see you getting very talkative over a cup of coffee, alright?"

Well, I suppose he had a point… but that didn't necessarily mean anything. "Hmph. And you really think that I'm going to be more talkative with wherever we're going now?"

"Nope."

"N-No?" I repeated, slightly off guard.

"Nope. This is a place where you don't have to talk." He looked up and grinned at me with a twinkle in his eye.

I had to give him credit for that one.

But still, I was now even more curious as to where we were going. The only places I could imagine were perhaps a theatre, a museum, or an opera house… In which case, it would be obvious that he made a generalized guess about my interests based on my attitude and appearance. Although, I suppose I will be fine with all those options except the opera house.

"We're here!" Wright exclaimed loudly, surprising me enough to lose my train of thought. How long had we been walking anyway?

"C'mon," he said, hurrying me toward the entrance, "we want to get good seats."

"We do?" I asked as I looked up to read the banner above the doors. _Abbey Classical Concert- Fri, December 11, 6 pm,_ I read off the banner. Hmph, that fool really did make a generalized guess, not that I expected any better.

Despite popular belief, I was not actually a big fan of classical music. It wasn't bad and could be relaxing, but after a few pieces it got quite boring. Nevertheless, it was better than having an awkward and trifling conversation with Mr. Phoenix Wright.

Inside the hall, Wright handed the woman at the counter our tickets with a sheepish grin.

"Is that why you were late?" I asked him as we were walking away from the woman.

"Huh?"

"The tickets."

"Oh. Well, yeah. I wanted to make sure that we wouldn't be waiting in line forever for our tickets. Also, I wasn't _late_ , it was like, half a minute. You don't have to make a big deal out of it, Edgeworth."

"Mister."

"Huh?"

I repressed the urge to sigh, I was sincerely starting to get a headache. Did I have to explain _everything_ to him?

"I'm sorry, I just didn't realize that we were on close enough terms to refer to each other without titles, Mr. Wright."

He didn't say anything; he only looked up at me with a look of pity and sadness. That's when it occurred to me that I was probably doing a poor job of convincing him that I didn't need his help.

"Don't give me that look."

Wright turned his head away, once again not responding. Fortunately, we were steps away from the door to the actual auditorium. We both entered the room and I glanced at Wright again. His face displayed nothing, which I found a bit strange. I had thought that he'd be the kind of man who wore his heart on his sleeve.

"Hmm…" Wright voiced out, breaking the silence. "There aren't as many people here as I thought…" His remark caused me to look around the room. Sure enough, the room wasn't full by any means and there were some rows that had empty seats between people.

"Hmph, I could've told you that," I said to him as we took our seats. "Our tickets did not assign us seats upon purchase. Thus, it would be assumed that this wasn't a particularly big event."

"Huh, that makes sense. I didn't think of that, eheheh…"

Ugh, that signature nervous laugh always managed to annoy me. Why he felt the need to laugh like that I hadn't the slightest. I noticed Wright staring at me from the corner of my eye, as if he was waiting for me to notice him so he could say something. I instead continued to stare ahead at the people bringing an array of instruments across the stage. I still couldn't understand how he could ignore the blatant sighs that I didn't want to talk to him.

"Hey, look, a violin!" He exclaimed, pointing to a woman carrying an instrument across the stage. Clearly an attempt to start a new conversation.

"That is a viola," I corrected him.

"…Oh. Um, hey, that sure looks like a nice clarinet, doesn't it?"

I couldn't help but sigh at that. "And _that_ is an oboe. Honestly, if you can't even get the instruments right, then don't even bother."

"Well excuuuuse me that I've never taken a fancy music class!" He snapped. "How should I know? They look the same to me!"

I stared at him as he fumed with anger, or perhaps it was frustration. His teeth were clenched tight and his eyebrows were drawn together. It was almost funny how cartoonish he looked; I could even imagine smoke coming out of his ears. It looked like my first impressions of him were correct after all, he did wear his heart on his sleeve.

"Oh… W-Wait, I'm sorry, Edgeworth, that was uncalled for," he remarked once he realized what he had said. "I didn't mean-"

"It's fine," I replied, not even bothering to look at him. "You don't need to apologize for something you clearly meant. You can say whatever else you believe."

"Aw, c'mon now, don't be like that. You're going to make me feel bad…"

I shrugged, "That's nothing but your own guilty conscience, Mr. Wright."

"…N-No, it's not…" But despite that comment, he didn't say anything else until after the performance started. Hmph, how… simple. A comment like that was all it took to make him feel guilty. I probably would've smirked at my victory is it hadn't been so easy.

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Within a half hour into the concert, I had to admit that I was getting quite bored. I couldn't figure out how anyone, like the man sitting in front of us who was listening _very_ intently, could stand to listen to more than four or so pieces of this genre. Wright was also getting more restless as time went on, although it was obvious that he was from the very first piece, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

At around the moment a young woman was playing a particularly long and boring clarinet solo, I decided to put us both out of our misery.

"Mr. Wright," I whispered to him, as he was trying his best not to doze off.

"H-Huh? Edgeworth?" He muttered before looking around, somewhat confused. "What's wrong? It isn't ending soon, is it?"

"No, it's only been about twenty minutes." I couldn't help but notice that he visibly stiffened at that. "I just wanted to know if you were enjoying the show."

"Oh, uh, i-it's okay… It's just that, um, it's not really my thing," he said somewhat nervously.

"Neither is it mine."

A pause. Then, "Wait, really? Then… why are we here?"

I shrugged. "Because you brought me here."

Even in the darkness, I could see his face flush red from what I assume was embarrassment. "So, should we get out of here?" he asked.

"Yes, let's." We both got up from out seats and inched past the small amount of people in our row. A balding man glared at us for obstructing his view of the performance, which was only to be expected, I suppose…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Well then, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Wright," I said when we were outside. Light flurries were falling and it was colder than it was when we were last outside. I wished I had brought my gloves…

"Huh? Where are you going?" He asked, and I couldn't believe how dense this man was. Where did he think I was going to go?

"Home. Where else?"

"But you can't go home yet!" I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. "Uhh, well, you _can_ , but you shouldn't," he said, refusing to meet my gaze. "I feel kind of bad that I brought you to something you didn't even like without telling you first. So I… want to make it up to you."

I stared at him for a moment, and his expression could tell me clearly what this was all about. How disappointing.

"There's no need to do that, Mr. Wright. I am quite fine with how things turned out, thank you," I told him, only partially meaning the last half of that statement, but he didn't need to know that.

"But I really do feel bad and I want to make it up to you!" He finally looked up at me. "Please."

I was starting to get angry with this man's attitude and "sincerity." Did he really think he could fool me?

"No, Mr. Wright. You do _not_ want to 'make it up to me;' you just feel bad for yourself and want to pat yourself on the back with the notion of 'you tried,' just so you can feel good about yourself. You are using me to do it, and I want no part of it."

I watched him closely to gauge his reaction at my accusation; to see what kind of person he truly was. Frankly, he surprised me, I had to admit. I expected him to get angry, quickly trying to defend himself, and going into noticeable denial about it. But he didn't do that, nor did he pout and run away meekly with his tail between his legs like Detective Gumshoe would have. Instead, a small frown flickered across his face and was gone. He looked at me calmly and sternly, with none of the previous bumbling and nervousness that was present in his voice before.

"No," he said. "You're wrong. If you don't want to believe me, that's fine; I can't make you. But I won't let you think that way about everyone else. There are good, genuine people all around you, Edgeworth. Even if you don't believe that I'm one of them, I'll prove it to you about others someday."

"…Heh."

"Wh-What's so funny?" He asked, his serious expression starting to falter into unease.

"Nothing, Mr. Wright. Nothing at all. So, what place did you have in mind to go to?"

"Just a coffee shop, if that's all right with you," he said, the serious expression back on his face.

"I though you said you didn't like the 'same-old, same-old?"

"I did say that. But since my plans were a bust, I figured that you were right. The same-old is the same-old for a reason. So, are you coming or not?"

"…Why not." Maybe this evening wouldn't be a total disappointment after all.

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 _So, this was meant to be a one-shot, but uh, yeah, that didn't quite work out, haha. It took me nearly 7 months to write this chapter, so don't expect the next one next week or something. I will try to write it a bit faster this time, but obviously, no promises._

 _Reviews are love! I'm just wondering if people found this boring, because I'm always confident when writing, but rereading always makes me think the pace is too slow/too fast, or the story is just plain boring. Please let me know if you can! But if not, just you reading it makes me happy. ^^_

 _Fun fact- Did you know that Takumi said that Edgeworth would be a fan of Korean Techno Music? I seriously cannot get over that. It's the best thing ever xD_

 _See you next chapter, hopefully!_


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